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Vassar Miller
Vassar Miller (July 19, 1924 - October 31, 1998) was an American poet. Life Miller was born in Houston, Texas, the daughter of real estate invester Jesse G. Miller. She began writing as a child, composing on a typewriter due to the cerebral palsy which affected her speech and movement. She attended the University of Houston, receiving a B.A. and M.A. in English. In 1956, Miller published her debut volume of poetry, Adam's Footprint. Her poems, most of which dealt with either her strong religious faith or her experiences as a person with a disability, were widely praised for their rigorous formality, clarity, and emotional impact. Her poems have been published in hundreds of periodicals and more than 50 anthologies, including Spanish translations in Latin American journals. Over the course of a literary career which spanned almost 40 years, Miller published 10 volumes of poetry in all. He 10 volumes of poetry, published between 1956 and 1984, were collected in 1991 under the title If I Had Wheels or Love. An outspoken advocate for the rights and dignity of the handicapped, Miller also edited a collection of poetry and short stories about persons with disabilities titled Despite This Flesh. Miller received many awards and accolades for her poetry in her home state. Writing The lasting power of Miller’s poetry and its distinctiveness was aptly described by many, including author Larry McMurtry. Reflecting on the qualities that make the work of only a few artists survive, Mr. McMurtry wrote of Miller and her poetry: “It’s easy to point out her clarity, her precision, her intelligence, her honesty. But I want to mention one other quality that I think she has both as a person and as a poet, and that is her tenacity. It’s not simply brute survival that a poet is involved with, although sometimes they are; it’s more than that. It’s a tenacity that has to be at one and the same time, physical, intellectual, and moral. I believe this tenacity is something that Vassar Miller is richly endowed with.” Recognition In 1961 Miller was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for her collection Wage War on Silence. 3 of her books won the annual poetry prize of the Texas Institute of Letters. In 1982 and 1988 Miller was named Poet Laureate of Texas, and in 1997 she was named to the Texas Women's Hall of Fame by the Governor's Commission for Women. In addition to her writing and teaching, Ms. Miller was involved in civic work and in 1989 the Young Women’s Christian Association named her an Outstanding Woman of Houston. The University of North Texas Press awards an annual Vassar Miller Prize in Poetry.Submitting For Vassar Miller Prize in Poetry, University of North Texas Press, University of North Texas Libaries. Web, Mar. 23, 2013. Publications Poetry *''Adam's Footprint''. New Orleans, LA: New Orleans Poetry Journal Press, 1956. *''Wage War on Silence: A book of poems''. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1960. *''My Bones Being Wiser: Poems''. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1963. *''High Noon: Dry season''. Santa Barbara, CA: Unicorn Press, 1968. *''Onions and Roses''. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1968. *''If I Could Sleep Deeply Enough: Poems''. New York: Liveright, 1974. *''Listening to Rain at Night''. Houston, TX: Wings Press, 1976. *''Small Change''. Houston, TX: Wings Press, 1977. *''Approaching Nada''. Housto, TX: Wings Press, 1977. *''Selected and New Poems, 1950-1980'' (edited by Robert Bonazzi). Austin, TX: Latitudes Press, 1981. *''Open Question''. Winston Salem, NC: Palaemon Press, 1982. *''Struggling to Swim on Concrete''. New Orleans, LA: New Orleans Poetry Journal Press, 1984. *''If I Had Wheels or Love: Collected poems''. Dallas, TX: Southern Methodist University Press, 1991. *''Twenty-Four Poems, 1977-1987: Heretofore uncollected or unpublished''. Lancaster, PA: All Kinds Blintzes Press, 2003. Edited *''Despite This Flesh: The disabled in stories and poems''. University of Texas Press, 1985. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Vassar Miller, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Dec. 16, 2014. See also *List of U.S. poets References *''Heart's Invention: On the poetry of Vassar Miller'' (introduction by Larry McMurtry; edited by Steven Ford Brown). Ford-Brown & Co., 1988. Fonds *Vassar Miller Papers at University of Houston Notes External links ;Poems *"Morning Person" *Vassar Miller at Poem of the Day. * A Selection of Poetry ;Audio / video *Vassar Miller at YouTube ;Books *Vassar Miller at Amazon.com ;About *Vassar Miller, 74, Texas Poet; Her Infirmity Inspired Her Art obituary in New York Times * "She Spoke to Silence" Category:1924 births Category:1998 deaths Category:American poets Category:University of Houston alumni Category:Poets Laureate of Texas Category:20th-century poets Category:20th-century women writers Category:American women writers Category:English-language poets Category:People with cerebral palsy Category:Poets Category:Women poets